Protective garment

ABSTRACT

A garment comprising: at least one pocket; and at least one protective pad located within said at least one pocket; and at least one connecting structure for securing at least one optional protective pad to the garment the at least one connecting structure being capable of cooperating with a complementary connecting structure operatively connected to the at least one optional protective pad.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of and claims thebenefit from provisional application Ser. No. 61/322,261 filed Apr. 8,2010 and, which is hereby incorporated by reference to the extent notinconsistent with the present disclosure.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to padded garments having adjustable padsfor athletes.

2. Background Art

Padded garments worn by athletes and sport enthusiasts typically includesome form of padding to prevent injury to the athlete's body includingthe shoulders, sternum, spine, ribs, lower back, hips or coccyx. Suchinjuries can result from a multitude of athletic activities includingfootball, hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, fieldhockey, cycling or in-line skating etc.

Known forms of padding for athletic apparel, include closed cell foam,gel-filled cavities, and inflatable cushions filled with pressurizedfluid. These forms of padding are relatively inflexible and are notshaped to bend to the contour of the athlete's body and can hinder freemovement.

The padding can be attached directly to the inside or outside of thegarment or can be located within pockets. Typically the padding isfixedly attached to the garment when not located within a pocket throughstitching or adhesive. When the padding is located within a pocket, itis known to fixedly attach the padding to the pocket through stitchingor other means in order to prevent it from falling out. However,Further, current shoulder pads do not allow adjustment to the shouldercaps and other pads likewise do not allow for precise adjustment. Hockeyplayers and other athletes are currently unable to custom adjust theirprotective padding on the garment to uniquely fit their particularbodies.

There exists a need in the art for protective padding that allows theathlete to adjust the various pads to precise positions that providemaximum protection during athletic events.

To that end, the present disclosure is directed to a garment withadjustable pads, wherein each pad comprises a plurality of componentsthat can readily be adjustable to fit each athlete's body. Most of theadditional adjustably positioned pads are hard plastic or similarmaterial.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

A garment of the present disclosure comprises an article of clothinghaving at least one pocket with at least one pad located within the atleast one pocket and at least one adjustable pad location operativelyconnected to the garment.

The shoulder pad garment assembly begins with a moisture wicking shirt18. presently, the moisture wicking shirt comprises Cross linkedpolyethylene. However, the shirt “does not have to be specificallycrossed linked polyethylene” but may be made of any material thatprovides the characteristics of a cross linked polyethylene. In onerepresentative embodiment, pads may then be sewn into the shirt 18.Loops may be sewn on several places 22 a, 22 b, 22 c, to attach variouscomponents 24, 26 a, 26 b, 28 a, 28 b. The various components may beattached to the loop with hook which may be attached to the underside ofthe various components 24, 26 a, 26 b, 28 a, 28 b. The hook and loop mayreverse positions and achieve the same results. Industrial strength hookand loop are preferred. There are other possible solutions known topersons skilled in the art for attaching components such as snaps,straps, buttons etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a partof the specification, illustrate the present disclosure and, togetherwith the description, further serve to explain the principles of thedisclosure and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to makeand use the disclosure.

FIG. 1A is a front view of a short sleeve shirt incorporating pads andVelcro® loop.

FIG. 1B is a back view of the same short sleeve shirt illustrated inFIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A is a front view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 1A with custompositioned protective pads operatively connected at strategic points onthe garment.

FIG. 2B is a back view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 2A with custompositioned protective pads operatively connected at strategic points onthe garment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the shirt with customizable padsillustrated in FIGS. 1A and 2A of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the shirt with customizable padsillustrated in FIGS. 1B and 2B of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The padded garment of the present disclosure comprises an article ofclothing, such as, for example, a shirt with protective pads. Thearticle of clothing may be, but is not limited to, for example, a longsleeve shirt, a short sleeve shirt, a sleeveless shirt, a pair ofshorts, or a pair of pants. The padded garment may be worn as anundergarment or as an outermost layer, although the vast majority ofapplications may involve using the padded garment as an undergarment.The protective pads may be positioned to protect areas of the body proneto injury including, but not limited to, the ribs, shoulders, lowerback, elbows, sternum, hips, coccyx, knees, or shins. The paddedgarments of the present disclosure are envisioned for use in sports,including but not limited to, football, rugby, hockey, field hockey,lacrosse, baseball, basketball, field hockey, cycling, ice skating,roller skating or in-line skating and the like.

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are now described. Whilespecific configurations and arrangements are discussed, it should beunderstood that this is done for illustrative purposes only. A personskilled in the relevant art will recognize that other configurations andarrangements may be used without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe disclosure. It will also be apparent to a person skilled in therelevant art that this disclosure may be employed in a variety of other,devices and applications.

FIG. 1A depicts a front view of a first embodiment of a padded garmentin the form of a short sleeve moisture wicking shirt 18, although thedisclosure is not limited in this regard. Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA)or similar protective pads (see, for example, U.S. Patent ApplicationPublication US 2008/0022431, published Jan. 31, 2008, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistentwith the present disclosure) may then be operatively positioned in theshirt 18 by methods such as sewing, although the disclosure is notlimited in this regard. Connecting structure, such as, for example,Velcro®, either a loop portion 22A, 22B, 22C, or a hook portion may beoperatively connected to the shirt 18. In one embodiment, the shirtportion may be the Velcro loop at the pad portion may be the Velcrohook, although the disclosure is not limited in this regard. In theembodiment illustrated, in FIGS. 3 and 4, the Velcro loop portion may beattached to the wicking shirt and the Velcro hook portion may beoperatively attached to the pads. In other embodiments, the connectingstructure for attaching the various pad component's may include snaps,straps, buttons and the like, as would be understood by those skilled inthe art, although the disclosure is not limited in this regard.

The basic elements of the protective pad shirt 18 is shown in FIGS. 1Aand 1B. The padded shirt 18 may be worn alone, if the player prefersminimal protection. Specifically, chest-padding 20 a, shoulder padding20 b, back padding 20 c and arm padding 20 d, as shown in FIG. 1A. Onthe other hand, many elements can be added or removed in order tocustomize the protection afforded each athlete. The elements that may beadded include, but are not limited to, shoulder caps 24, sternum late 26a, top spine plate 26 b, middle spine plate 28 a, and bottom of spineplate 28 b, with the use of Velcro®, or other connecting element capableof securely holding the protective elements on the garment, based on theindividual players preference thereby customizing the position of thevarious protective pads for each individual.

In one embodiment, the protective gear may be assembled by taking thebasic body garment 18 having a plurality of pads located strategicallyoperatively connected to and positioned in the garment and thenoperatively attaching various optional/customizing pads utilizing thehook and loop, or other connecting means, in strategic places whereadditional padding or protective devices is desired and may be attached.Different thicknesses of padding may be used to offer more or lessprotection, as desired. For example, using a 1-10 scale, ice hockeyprotective pads may be composed of a level 6 thickness while lacrosseprotective pads may be composed of only a level 4. Football protectivepads may be a level 10 thickness. There may also be differentthicknesses for the pads that are incorporated into the basic elementgarment 18 for various levels of protection.

In use, the athlete may attach any of the desiredattachable/removable/customizing components other than the shoulder caps24 to the shirt 18. At this point, the athlete may put on the shirt 18having the desired components, 26 a, 26 b, 28 a, 28 b, effectivelyoperatively positioned. Once the desired components are operativelypositioned on the shirt 18, the athlete may then put on the shirt. Atthis point, the athlete may adjust the connection of the shoulder caps24 to their desired location. At this point, the upper body protectivepads are ready for use. If the athlete is not about to enter intocompetition, he may remove the fully assembled protective shirt untilthe time of competition. The attaching material may be sufficientutility to maintain the protective pads in position before, during andafter enduring athletic competition. Specifically, once the variousprotective pads have been attached to the shirt 18, they may remainconnected so that the next time the athlete were to use the shirt withthe various protective pads attached all they would have to do would beto put on the protective pad shirt like any other shirt.

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notthe Summary and Abstract sections, is intended to be used to interpretthe claims. The Summary and Abstract sections may set forth one or morebut not all exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure ascontemplated by the inventor, and thus, are not intended to limit thepresent disclosure and the appended claims in any way.

1. A garment comprising: at least one pocket; and at least oneprotective pad located within said at least one pocket; and at least oneconnecting structure for securing at least one optional protective padto the garment the at least one connecting structure being capable ofcooperating with a complementary connecting structure operativelyconnected to the at least one optional protective pad.
 2. The garment ofclaim 1, further comprising: at least one optional protective padoperatively connected to the garment by the at least one connectingstructure.
 3. The garment of claim 2, wherein the at least one optionalprotective pad is selected from the group comprising: a shoulder cap, asternum plate, a top spine plate, a middle spine plate or a bottom spineplate.
 4. A garment comprising: a plurality of pockets operativelypositioned in the garment having a plurality of protective pads locatedwithin the plurality of pockets; and a plurality of connecting structurefor securing at least one of the plurality of optional protective padsto the garment, the plurality of connecting structure being capable ofcooperating with a plurality of complementary connecting structureoperatively connected to the plurality of optional protective pads. 5.The garment of claim 4, further comprising: a plurality of optionalprotective pad operatively connected to the garment by the plurality ofconnecting structure
 6. The garment of claim 5, wherein the plurality ofoptional protective pads is selected from the group comprising: shouldercaps, a sternum plate, a top spine plate, a middle spine plate or abottom spine plate.